Grom Upper West Side Closes: Is Serious Gelato A No-Go In My 'Hood?

The Grom on my corner (76th and Broadway) scooped its last gelato last night, November 25th, the latest failed high quality gelato enterprise on the Upper West Side. For 25 years my neighborhood has been rejecting pedigreed Italian-based gelato enterprises, and I don't understand it. Do we only support cupcake and cookie emporia in my zip code? That's the only conclusion I can draw.

I will miss so many things about Grom: coffee and lemon granite in the summer, seriously delicious hot chocolate in the winter, and any number of terrific gelati flavors: pistachio, espresso, crema di Grom; and sorbetti flavors: chocolate, coconut, pear.

Why did this Grom fail? Was it too expensive? I didn't think so. Well-made food with good ingredients is never cheap. The scoops were a little chintzy, but for me that was an effective form of portion control.

Just the other day I was thinking that Grom should put in wi-fi and sell espresso and Balthazar pastries so people could hang out and work there, Starbucks-style (there was a nice seating area in the back that was rarely filled).

Anyway, I will miss my local Grom, and I hope another high-quality gelato place will try its luck in my neighborhood. In the meantime we're going to have to get our frozen dessert fix at places like 16 Handles (blech!) and Shake Shack's B line.

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